guy: wednesday the fifth of may. 3:00 in london, 10:00 in new york, 30 minutes into the trading day stateside. welcome to "bloomberg markets." we seem to be walking back a bunch of things. janet yellen is doing it, the market is doing it. a whole load of walking back going on. we are definitely buying the bounce. has the world changed because of what janet yellen said yesterday? alix: maybe, maybe not. we are still seeing chip shortages, commodity shortages, so the market may be reversing in some capacity, but those two stories are still very much the themes of the day. the shortage economy is how this is evolving to get to your point, nested hunted -- to your point, and as it 100 getting a pop after having its worst -- your point, nasdaq 100 getting a

pop after having its worst day since march. does the moment and get hurt by a dollar that gets a little bit of strength? you throw a dart at a commodity and it is probably higher, and there's a shortage of it. the bloomberg dollar index sitting at that 100 day moving average. we break above that. what does that do to shake the situation in the commodity market? we will break out of this down throughout the next couple of hours. guy: i've got to headlines. lumber extending the record rally, topping 1500 for the first time. u.s. ism services data coming in a little shy, though. 62.7, down from 63.7. the survey asked 62.7, down from 63 -- 62.7, down from 63.7. mike mckee is here to break down all the numbers for us. what do you make of that print? michael: it is not a bad print

at all. the number is still relatively high. if you are staying in the 60's, you've got a very strong economy going. it is just growing at a slower pace. you can find perhaps the reason underneath. we are finding a shortage of supply. maybe it is people. maybe it is inventory, things like that. but inventories fell significantly to 49.1. that suggests contraction. supplier delivery times rose. the backlog of orders rose significantly, up 5.5 points to 55.7. it looks like demand is out there and the services industry just can't keep up, which may suggest why the overall number has weaker activity. the business activity number down almost seven points on the month. that is equivalent of the production number you would see in the manufacturing. overall, not a bad report. prices go up 76.8 from 70.4. that is not a surprise either.

we have been expecting prices to be higher given everything that is going on. alix: it seems like it is confirming that we are definitely a hot economy now, seeing the repercussions of that. montana offering $1200 to unemployed people to get them back into the office, or back into the labor force, talking about the labor shortage. guy: there are shortages showing up pretty much everywhere. the question is, how is this going to manifest itself? are we going to see inflation coming through? i am fascinated to see what the market data looks like friday. is this ultimately going to lead to slower growth? there's huge demand out there at the moment, but there are huge chunks of the economy that simply cannot keep up. you kind of wonder how that sits relative to market expectations, which is really priced in a superhot economy at the moment. anything that puts the brakes on that will be a problem. alix: like a rate rise. treasury secretary yellen rattled the markets yesterday when she said interest rates may

have to rise to make sure the economy doesn't overheat. later she had to clarify those comments. sec. yellen: let me be clear, it is not something i am predicting or recommending. if anybody appreciates the independence of the fed, i think that person is me. and i know that the fed can be counted on to do whatever is necessary to achieve their dual mandate objectives. alix: joining us for more on washington is bloomberg fed and u.s. reporter craig porter. are we looking at a potential powell replacement in february of 2022? jared bernstein didn't seem to give powell his 100% backing. where is that conversation evolving in d.c.? craig: after looking at it and talking to people around the perimeter who influence this decision, it looks more

politically intricate than baby investors think. the main reason is that powell has sided with his vice chair of supervision randal quarles in this light deregulation that has occurred. in the wings is lael brainard, the only sitting democrat on the board, who has almost two dozen dissents against those notes, and progressives aren't going to want continued light deregulation. so how does powell work with a new vice chair of supervision, quarles term expires in october, who does light deregulation? we don't know. guy: certainly i don't think this is fully factored into where the markets are going. craig torres, thank you very much, indeed. certainly something to watch. joining us to put it altogether,

jordyn jackson, jp morgan investment management global market strategist -- jordan jackson, jp morgan investment management global market strategist. the market is loving this kind of hot economy, this really strong growth. the earnings season was great. most of that is already priced. but the market seems to have its fingers in its ears when it comes to the possibility of rate hikes. at some point, that has to become a reality. when does it happen? how do i position for it? is it too early to be doing it now? jordan: i think the next visceral move in rates is going to be when the fed actually starts thinking about thinking about tapering the balance sheets. we think that starts to happen at their july meeting, at the same week they get second quarter gdp. they're going to have a string of several months of very strong economic data, and i think it will be time to start

thinking about tapering the balance sheet. you will see a move higher in rates as a result of that. i think at the september meeting, that is when they will put a plan into place sometime in the first quarter that they will begin to taper the balance sheet. that will be the next sort of like higher that we see in yields. i will say that over the next six months or so, in terms of expectation versus realized, a lot of great news has already been priced into expectations, so when expectations are already really strong, realize data has to be stellar. that's why markets have kind of taken a little bit of a pause here as of late, but i also think that next time we start to get talks about tapering, we may be poised for a bit. alix: we still get really good data coming in, but it is no longer beating to the extent we are used to. it would be easier to look at the market as a value versus growth trade or high rates, low

tech trade, but there's a lot of churn happening. how are you taking advantage of that when you see semis get hit, energy soaring on the commodity story? jordan: i still think there is more room to be had in that value rotation trade. we still like the financials, energy, and i think even within the bond proxies, you see opportunities like greece, just given some of the underlying fundamental shifts we are seeing in the real estate space. so i think there's opportunity across the board in value, and i think tech and health care should have a piece of the portfolio. when we look at the earnings story and we look at margins over the next couple of quarters, we still think that tech is going to have those higher gross margins. when you look at grocery stores, they are going to start feeling the pressure from higher food

prices. home goods stores are going to feel the pressure of higher commodity prices. while tech may have lower fixed costs, they may start to feel some of the pressure from higher wages coming through. but i still think, as i mentioned, there is still some more opportunity in the value-oriented parts of the market. i also think folks should have an allocation to growth as well. guy: i just want to develop that thought on what is happening with margins. talk me through the margin story more broadly. our companies going to suck up the hit they are taking on shortages right now via leyba or -- right now, be it labor or chips? where do you see pricing power, and where you see companies taking the margin hit? jordan: i think the story with margins is going to be, as i mentioned, those companies that have high fixed costs. so your home goods, your grocery stores. they are going to take the hit

on margins. but i don't think that companies are at a point where they want to pass those higher costs onto consumers just yet. i thing we are still too early in the recovery for them to exert those sort of pricing pressures. we do have 6% unemployment. if you look back into it, it is closer to 9%. i think that really plays into the broader inflation picture as well. i think the story there, in q2, the contributing factor for higher inflation is going to be based effects we can talk about a lot, and those supply-side constraints, those bottlenecks we are seeing happening. i think over the course of q3 in the fourth quarter as well, it is going to be the demand story coming back. the demand for services really coming back a long way, and i think that allows headline cpi to run year-ovr, 2.5% to 3% through the year. but then it begins to settle down a bit.

the reality is i've got maybe five new restaurants i want to check out, six new movies, especially given the marvel outlook, and then start to consume those services back to normal next year. i think that is when things begin to normalize a bit. guy: what you don't know is that alix is a massive marble fan. [laughter] -- massive marble fan -- massive marvel. [laughter] alix: i am. really looking forward to "black widow." restaurants, give or take. jordan jackson, thank you so much. breaking news you, platonic shares are down about ash peloton -- pellet gun shares are down up -- pellet on -- peloton shares are down about 7% after a recall of some of their products. guy: the company initially responded in the wrong way. alix: could have engaged more

productively with them from the outset. yikes. guy: and i think the market is punishing them for that as a result. the initial response was wrong. now they are having to take the hit. obviously this is one of these stocks that i think you've got to really keep an eye on because , are people going to continue to pay for these services and they can go back to the gym? how sticky is this stuff going to be? is it going to be a bit like netflix? how much of this gets pulled forward? alix: that really speaks to the demand of what kind of pricing power you will have. guy: talking of pricing power, we will talk inflation concerns. how does this feed into the gold story? we will talk to the ceo of the world's second-largest bullion producer. mark bristow, barrick gold, is next. this is bloomberg. ♪

alix: we are tracking honest company. we are waiting for it to actually start trading. it makes baby products, organic things. jessica alba is the chief creative officer. she owns a bunch of shares as well. she will be on tv later on today at 4:00 p.m. on this. this will speak to the market opening for these kind of ipo's. guy: coming through at $16, indicated to open a $20, let's watch it here. some of these ipos are just driven higher and higher. those are the kind of tech names. obviously, airbnb was one that stands out. i am fascinated to see how this one works. it is around $20.19 now, so

maybe drifting a little lower. this feels like a more manageable process. i don't know how you make a pivot from talking about what is happening with honest to what is happening in the mining sector. alix: you just do it. jordan: barrick gold -- guy: barrick gold beating earnings even the topline results were a little below the street's guidance. let's dig into the numbers. abby gil doolittle is here with the details -- abigail doolittle is here with the details. abigail: on the open, up about 1.7%, responding very well to a mainly solid quarter, then dipping slightly lower, now slightly higher. what investors are really honing in on, the missed sales slightly, but there was solid growth. gold on a year-over-year basis up about 2%. the real growth came from copper, up 159% on a year-over-year basis. but what you can see here, 80% of the overall revenue, copper

just 11%. overall, solid growth for revenue. the other big story is, as you were mentioning, seven consecutive quarters of profit growth. right now, up 6.6%. investors really liking that. in this past quarter, they have managed it quite nicely. gold, 89% of their revenue profile. where's the big gainer? copper up 94% over the last year. alix: great set up. really appreciate it. joining us now is mark bristow, barrick gold president and ceo. it is always good to catch up with you, one of the best ceos out there in the gold community and really well known. spleen to me why gold is still under $1800 an ounce -- explained to me why gold is still under $1800 an ounce. the supply shortage is everywhere. is gold not for filling the role it should right now? mark: good morning.

always nice to catch up with you. i think what we are seeing is you heard from the previous speaker that this is the honeymoon time after a crisis where everyone expect everything to be perfect and back to normal. we saw this post the global financial crisis. rumor, that was 2008, 2009 -- remember, that was 2008-2009. peak gold only arrived in 2011. right now i think the markets are very differentiated and disparate, and we got to take some time to really measure the crisis, and gold is that measure. so we have seen the first response, and i would add that you saw gold rise through 2019. it was a concern about the global economy. that hasn't gone away. guy: good morning. it's guy in london.

is gold going to for though that role, or do you think bitcoin fills that role? is that your competition now? mark: gold is gold is gold. [laughter] have you ever tried to take a bitcoin out of your pocket and pay for something? alix: but you can. guy: i haven't done that with gold either, to be honest. mark: the point about bitcoin is you take energy and try to put it into a computer formula, and it is unique and it is only going to produce so many bitcoins, but now we've got many, many cryptocurrencies. again, i think it is a product of, you know, this pandemic and consequential financial crisis that led to people who didn't need the job really and could have survived this are getting more and more money because they have nothing to spend it on, and we've got very complicated markets today that are not

necessarily tied to proper sounds. it is a bit like 1999. i think gold also has some work to do. the broader gold industry, we saw the etf's come into the market. how do we make ourselves more accessible to people? you touched on the inflation risk. we were all concerned about quantitative easing post global financial crisis. we have seen that on steroids last year. alix: true. mark: nzd valuation of paper kurt -- and the devaluation of paper currencies is a real concern. alix: i am curious to see how the production side stacks up. on one hand, you can make an

argument that a lot of the easy stuff has already been mined, and now the stuff is in more complicated areas at a time when the industry is getting pressure to spend less, when the industry is getting pressure to be greener and have better esg principles. which thesis do you think is going to win here? how are you looking at it? mark: first of all, it is about the long game. like any business. our industry hasn't invested in its future. it has always been floated by the rising gold price since the turn-of-the-century. so it is an important time. the real sort of tension is between fund managers wanting to take out and get more from advancements in the mining industry generally, and the importance of reinvesting in a consumptive industry, and balancing that pie, growing that pie some more and more stakeholders can benefit from it.

again, fund managers get anxious when countries start mining more from their own natural resources . again, this is about a new, more modern, acceptable way to manage the exploitation of our globe's natural resources, and that is what our whole life is built on. guy: can i just talk to you, because time is running out of it, about india? obviously horrible now in terms of what is happening with covid. is that going to impact demand? a huge buyer of gold on the retail side. are you worried about what is happening in india potentially happening in africa? that would certainly hit some of your operations. mark: i think that is a real concern. but what about worrying about what happened around the rest of the world because we didn't do a good job managing this crisis anywhere?

india, you see there the impact financially. india naturally goes to gold as a safe haven, and i don't see that we will have a massive impact on the gold industry there, but certainly a tragedy that needs global support. and as far as africa goes, africa is more seasoned as far as managing viruses and pandemics. so far they have done a good job, and i can assure you that all of us who are invested there are working with our host countries to ensure that we don't get a replay of what we are witnessing in india. guy: mark, always a pleasure. thank you indeed. mark bristow, barrick gold president and ceo. this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ alix: earnings season still on a roll.

dave wilson is here to break, latest. dave: -- to break down the latest. dave: take a look at right -- at ride-hailing service lift pop -- service lift bank -- service lyft. it is part of a decision to cancel a trump era were rule -- trump era rule on gig workers. match.com, tender, other online dating sites higher after earnings. we see hilton has got a history of coming up short of estimates. guy: dave, thank very much indeed. we will talk to lyft a little bit later on. this is bloomberg. ♪ ♪

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♪ guy: we are approaching half past the hour. this is "bloomberg markets."

we are waiting for the inventory data out of the united states, oil inventory data. we are getting back up towards $70 on brent. the real thing to watch out for here, from my perspective, what is going to happen with gasoline? the u.s. is coming back when it comes to people flying. are we finally going to see a pickup in jet fuel demand? two things to watch out for here. alix: gasoline futures are at the highest since 2018. overall inventories see a super big draw. we are looking at 8 million barrels draw. gasoline inventories see a slight build, but pretty strong draw in distillate inventories, andrew final utilization is picking up. that's a pretty good -- and refinery utilization is picking up. that is a pretty good sign. this all fits with the broader

theme of not only reopening, but the general demand drives that we are seeing in the shortages we are seeing in the commodity market. how much of that is just a short-term thing, and how much of that can actually be longer-term? guy: i think there's a bunch of short-term factors. india and what is happening elsewhere around the world is obviously a huge factor. huge consumers of energy, huge consumers of oil. i'm keeping my eye on brent. we are at $69.81, just starting to pick up towards $70. it will it be interest -- it will be interesting to see if the market has a run at that one. if you can sustain a higher brent price, i think that is absolutely amazing. to get back to $70 after such a huge economic hit i think is amazing. a justification of the comp occasions in some ways for -- the complications in some ways for opec. alix: i just want to point out

this chart from goldman sachs. i would make the argument that this is even bigger now. this is the three-month contract, called backwardation. the more you have in this chart, the more backwardation you see. the big winners here are things like corn and soy, hogs and cotton. yes, you have copper, you have wti. a couple of things to point out. one, there's a bigger emphasis now on short cycle commodities because of the technology. used to be able to plant corn and soy and readjust planting fairly quickly. you can still do that, but you can also get oil out of the ground fairly quickly. the second, and you mentioned it, is india. does going to be certain commodities that are very much levered to that. one particular is cotton. that is going to get hit on both ends due to covid, certain

shutdowns and virus surges we are seeing their. guy: $0.05 away now from breaking $70 a barrel on brent crude. you talked about it being shortages in the commodity space, and lumber to $1500 earlier on. not just commodities. you could call chips commodities, but they are certainly causing similar kind of bottlenecks now. we see from a whole range of automakers. general motors actually pretty interesting today on this subject. stronger-than-expected profit growth. first quarter driven by pretty strong vehicle demand in the united states, plus also what was going on in china, but they are off -- but they are still having challenges from this chip shortage. really interesting conversation with david westin, talking to gm ceo mary barra. >> i think we are going to see recovery. we think u2 will be the weakest for the year. we will see some recovery in q3, q4. we are working on a lot of

long-term strategies. don't have anything to share right now, but there's a whole menu of things we are working on , processes we are changing, so more to come later in the year of how we will make sure we are never in this situation again, but believe me, we have a dedicated team working on that as well. guy: david joins us now. i thought this was really interesting on a bunch of things this morning. i thought it was a really nice conversation. but what they are doing, like others, they are putting the chips they've got, she talked about it being a dynamic process day-to-day, trying to use every single chip they've got, but putting it into the higher margin vehicles. it is the chips, and other lines may be going short. guy: she talked about mix. that is how they had their profit ability going up. but normally they sell vehicles that make a higher profit, but they also have an issue when it comes to the chips. it is clear they are directing the chips that they have to the places where they are going to make the most money internally. the thing she wouldn't go into

is why they are doing so much better than, for example, ford, or the owner of fiat chrysler and peugeot. ford said going forward, we are going to get killed. mary said maybe our people are a little smarter. alix: i thought that was funny. also, a lot of things we are thinking about. we are not going to tell you, but trust us, we are ok. alan ruskin at deutsche bank had a note saying that what we are seeing right now is very similar to the 1970's when it comes to oil. it became a geopolitical shortage problem, and that chips are becoming a geopolitical issue matt comes to taiwan, china and the u.s.. that made me feel like this thing can't get resolved anytime soon. david: the question i think really is how much bigger can it get because they will go to all electric vehicles by 2035, and that is not just chips. that's a lot of rare-earth and things you need to make those things. it is going to be a real big challenge for them. guy: who was it earlier on, san

companies need to stockpile rare earths -- earlier on, saying companies to stockpile rare earths? alix: iea. guy: but where are we now in terms of where oil comes from? i suspect it will be a lot quicker this time around, but basically, the u.s. is now energy independent. you look what is happening with the chip sector right now, what the chip companies are talking about, you talk about what the government is saying, they want to bring this stuff back. europe is doing exactly the same thing. europe said it would be naive when it comes to chip manufacturing. at once to secure its own supply. so it is going to -- it wants to secure its own supply. so it is going to be interesting. alix: did you guys talk about that, in terms of government subsidies? david: more than that, coinvestment. i talked to a congresswoman from

right around rochester, mary barra's hometown, and she said we need coinvestment. we need the government to invest in chip manufacturers along with the private sector. i asked if they were planning on doing it, and they said they are talking about just about everything. they've got a longer, middle to longer-term problem. alix: and also, is it going to be enough? what did they say, $50 billion so far in terms of the semis? i can't imagine that is going to be enough. and we haven't heard anything about europe is going -- about what europe is going to wind up doing. guy: it is everybody's problem, but everyone for themselves at the moment. the shortages are really substantial, and it is all based in taiwan as well. you throw in the geopolitical risk around that, i think the analogy of comparing it to the oil shock is a really smart way of looking at it. as david says, they are moving to electric. everyone is going to have to have enough capacity. it is going to be rare earths, chips.

if you want your industry to do well, if you want your industry to be globally competitive, you've got to make this stuff. alix: but good luck, mary barra, stockpiling cobalt. i know you need it for your cars. [laughter] david: i actually asked her about other shortages maybe in other supply chains as she ramps up dramatically, and she said a lot of the emphasis is on r&d to use less cobalt, to use writ less -- to use less of those rare-earth. i think she admits right now there's not enough production to support the ev's they are projecting. alix: i wonder what they will use instead. thank you very much, bloomberg's david westin. coming up, we will take a look at how the virus crisis in india is affecting western union's business. we will talk to this -- we will talk to the cfo right after earnings. this is bloomberg. ♪

ritika: this is "bloomberg markets." i'm ritika gupta come alive in the principal room -- ritika gupta, live in the principal room. this is bloomberg. alix: live from new york, i'm alix steel, with guy johnson in london. this is "bloomberg markets." western union had a rare miss on earnings in the first quarter. abigail doolittle is looking more. abigail: on this chart, we see what investors may not like. earnings basically flat on a year-over-year basis. basically a tiny mist to sales. the top line, a small beat -- tiny miss to sales. the topline, actually a small beat. this company is incredibly big in cross-border

remittances. principal transfers up 20%, more than 20% for the third straight quarter. one reason the stock may not be reacting as perhaps some, those who are along shares, might hope, the stock has had a really nice run over the last year, up 20%, especially having done well through the pandemic. through the second and third quarter of last year, very strong. they have held guidance, and talking about new partnerships in digital business. we will see whether or not today is just a blip on the screen. guy: absolutely. let's find out. the cfo of the business is raj agrawal. he joins us to give a take on what is happening here. thanks for your time today. really appreciate it. the topline is fairly flat. the market reaction fairly cautious. but as i dig into your numbers,

digital just goes from strength to strength. you are approaching some really big numbers in terms of the revenue. you've got $1 billion in terms of your sights on what is going to go on. can this kind of rate of change keep going? what is driving? are you taking market share? raj: thanks for having me on the show this morning. we are very pleased with the results. the business continues to rebound very well after last year. as you said, the digital business is firing on all cylinders. we are on our way to making that a $1 billion business, which is almost 1/4 of our consumer revenues, so we are very pleased, and we had a nice rebound from the fourth quarter. most areas of our business had an uptick from the fourth quarter, and we see continued momentum for the rest of this year, so we are on the right track. alix: just in terms of the shorter term, india is a huge, important corridor for you guys

in terms of transmitting money. what have you noticed as the virus is taking over there? raj: it is a difficult situation in india, and i know that from a personal standpoint. i follow that every single day. we do have a great business through india. we have also just launched fee free chancellors to accounts in india -- fee free transfers to accounts in india to help the people there. obviously many retail locations there, but it is one of our fastest growing businesses. see people sending hyper double amounts. there's a greater need than ever to receive money, and it is going to take some time for the pandemic to go away from india. it really is a global issue for us to try to solve. but western union is trying to do its part to get money to india as easily as possible. guy: digitizing the process obviously helps. post pandemic, how does that business evolve?

do you see yourself offering different products? increasingly, western union is becoming part of people's lives. they move money around, but it could be potentially more than that. as we make this migration to the business being more digital, could you offer more services to those people you are talking about? raj: absolutely. we are doing a test in the third quarter of this year more around providing a consumer ecosystem, more financial services. we think it is a natural stretch. people trust us. they trust the western union brand. they use us mostly as a transactional system today, but there is no reason why we can't have a broader consumer relationship where we are providing accounts, may be a credit or debit card or other kinds of financial services, and even a marketplace where consumers might be able to shop. so taking our 9 million customers and being able to extend the offering to them we think is a natural extension for western union, and potentially a gross vehicle for the next few

years to come. alix: does that mean more -- growth vehicle for the next few years to come. alix: does that mean more m&a? do you have to buy into that? raj: certainly we would look for the right kind of m&a opportunity. we know we don't necessarily need to do everything organically, and if we have the right kind of assets, the right kind of capabilities that provide more components to the consumer ecosystem, we are very interested in that, so we are absolutely looking for those types of things. guy: others are trying to offer this service, but you've got the infrastructure, you are developing it and continue to invest in it. others are using their brands, you are providing the backbone. what is the potential there? raj: the potential is very high. if you think about the cross quarter remittance market, it has been about $700 billion of principal size.

have of that markets are with the banks -- half of that marketer with the banks. we want to be the white label provider to the banking side of the industry. we have some great partnerships like saudi telecom in saudi arabia. we think it is a natural extension of our capabilities. want to be able to offer services that are branded in a nonbranded way and provide on the channel capabilities, both sending and receiving. that is what partners like about western union, that we can provide a customized solution or what works for their consumers. it is a really exciting opportunity for us, and the long-term growth opportunities for the company is part of the digital success we've had over the last years. alix: i am wondering how many you have any pipeline now. can you give us a hint as to when you might be able to announce more partnerships? raj: we have several in the pipeline. there are many others that are already active, they are smaller in nature. there will be some coming in the next few months, and we continue

to see a lot of growth opportunities here. there's a lot of market share for us to take. he talked about market share earlier. we grew our cross quarter principal by 28% in the first quarter, and it is indicative of how much share we are taking in this space. it is a continuation of the consumer trends we saw last year , and based on the world bank data, which is a bit dated now from last october, we are certainly gaining a lot of share in that space today. guy: post pandemic, we are going to live anymore digital world. can you talk to me about how significant the acceleration is going to be, how big a step change this is going to be for your business? raj: we are absolutely driving digital growth and adoption. we are also digitizing the retail experience to allow people to may stage transactions before they get into the retail locations, so all aspects are digital. know that consumers want to use us in all different ways. somewhat to go to retail

locations. somewhat to use their online site. somewhat to use their mobile app. we want to be able to provide all of those different channels because different consumers have different needs, and it really is consumer driven in terms of how we thing about the channels that we offer at the point-of-sale. we are ok with whichever mode consumers want to use. that has been a success for us over the last several years, and we think there's a lot of growth runway in the future as well. alix: we appreciate talking to you. western union cfo raj agrawal, thanks so much. it really raises the question, where is the market share going to come from? where are you siphoning off some of the customers? remember, jamie dimon at jp morgan said that fintech is the enormous competitive threat to banks that they are also trying to figure out how to pivot. guy: is western union fintech? i don't know. this is a business that has been around for quite some time. alix: is it trying to become

something along those lines? guy: exactly, and developing an ecosystem around the huge number of customers they already have, we will talk about what is happening to some of those physical stores. is it becoming a more digital process? certainly, the rollout of technology is going to be a big part of this as more and more people get access to that technology. may be more and more people don't need those physical stores as well. we've got more indications coming through from honest. the listing process is underway. the latest is $21, pricing at $16. this is jessica alba's business coming to market. we will catch up with her later today. alix: not us. guy: well, not us. the collective, bloomberg television. we represent the brand, alix. alix: oh, ok. guy: looking forward to that. this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ ritika: it is time for the bloomberg business flash, a look at some of the biggest business stories in the news right now. former president trump is still banned from posting on facebook. the content oversight board has voted to continue suspending his account after he encouraged supporters to march on the capitol, and events that turned into a riot, but the board also said indefinite suspension was not appropriate, and facebook must reassess within six months. peloton and the consumer product safety commission are recalling the company's treadmills after one child's death and 70 reported incidents. the recalls affect more than 125,000 treadmills. the ceo says the company made a mistake in its initial response to the request for a recall. spacex saved -- spacex is taking

preorders for its star link internet service. the company event truly -- the company eventually plans to deploy 12,000 satellites. the world's most vaccinated nation is undergoing a new surge of coronavirus infections. in response, they have made bars close earlier and canceled sporting evans for two weeks. the country has -- sporting events for two weeks. the country has fully vaccinated its adult population. alix: thanks so much. i find this story to be really distressing. a lot of their shots came from sinochem, -- sorry, sinopharm, the chinese vaccine, and a version of astrazeneca made in india. is it a vaccine problem? if so, what is that? guy: that is certainly a cause for concern. i am worried about it being a variant problem. i think the geography of where this country is, you go further

east from tanzania, the geography maybe speaks to the idea that maybe a variant is becoming a problem here. this is the big fear. you've got so many people with coronavirus and india -- coronavirus in india, it is throwing up a variants. that is a huge fear. alix: i think it also raises the bar for herd immunity and what that even means anymore. i don't know. i found that to be a very disturbing article. guy: it means potentially a shot every year. alix: ongoing, exactly. and recalibrating that openness of the economy. guy: absolutely. we will talk about the european bond market next. george cole, goldman sachs managing director of european rates strategy, will join us next. this is bloomberg. ♪

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>> the countdown is on in europe. this is "bloomberg markets: european close," with guy

johnson and alix steel. ♪ guy: welcome. what do you need to know out of europe this hour? european industrials basically just continue to issue supply-chain warnings. some investors say it will raise prices. some say chip shortages will get worse. raw material prices are a headwind. a shipping giant sees no signs of rising inflation despite except in all demand for container line services. and boris johnson makes a last-ditch pitch to investors ahead of thursday pulling that could decide whether the u.k. remains a united kingdom. we've got the stoxx 600